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Brilliant - get it

This was a game that I picked up from a bargain bin - so didn't expect much at all, but I'm pleased to say I have been very pleasantly suprised. I've been playing it so much my eyes hurt!

The premise of the game is simple - you get a song and you have to slide and tap your stylis over circles on the screen, in time with the music (Hence the 'Elite Beats' title). The story is completely pointless and cartoony (in fact, it is quite bizarre at times), but gives it a chance for new songs to be unlocked once a 'level' has been completed. The tapping is not complicate, you just need good timing and a good eye. Practice also makes perfect with this game!

It has songs from Jumping Jack Flash (by the Rolling Stones) to YMCA (from the Village People) - and though they are not song by the original artist, they are a pretty good impression of the real thing.

The main point is that the game is feindishly addictive - with your scores ranked, depending on your accuracy and timing, there is always the challenge of getting a section 'perfect' and acheiving a much higher score. All the time your agents (who are dressed like extras from Men in Black) are dancing in the top screen (or falling over when you struggle to keep up), to keep you amused.

One drawback is that you definitely need sound for this game - so it could annoy the rest of the room whilst you are playing it. Once you've picked it up you won't be able to stop!!

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A must-own for anyone with a DS!

'Elite Beat Agents' is one of these DS gems. It will never get a huge amount of popularity compared to the latest Mario or Pokemon, but is still a must-play for those who come across it. It has been adapted from the Japanese game 'Osu! Takaete! Ouendan!' which had you control a group of cheerleaders who support various people in their fight-or-flight tasks through the power of music and dance. Of course, the idea of male cheerleaders over here in the West is far too ridiculous for many to comprehend, so the cheerleaders were changed to secret agents and the missions available changed. The resulting premise is something a bit more palatable for the West, but still a game for everyone to enjoy.

EBA is a rhythm game and works like so: around the bottom screen small, numbered, button-shaped markers appear. There are circles slowly closing onto the marker and when it reaches the circle you have to tap to the beat of the music with your stylus. Some markers will be connected by a line on which you drag and hold the stylus along, others must be tapped more than once, and sometimes you won't have markers but spinners where you spin the stylus as fast as possible before the circle hits the middle of the screen. Hitting the markers accurately will keep your meter at the top of the bottom screen in the yellow (saying Yes) and the story (shown on the top screen) will progress in a positive way, but tapping them off-beat or missing markers completely will lower the meter, with a 'Mission Failed' occurring if the meter goes all the way to the bottom. Missions are selected from a world map and each set of three or four completed unlocks more difficult ones.

Precision and timing in this game is essential, so ensure your DS screen works properly and you're paying attention to the music. There are four difficulty levels, each with their own lead Agent: Breezin (Easy), Crusin (Normal), Sweatin (Hard) and Hard Rock (Very Hard) which replaces the male agents with a unique female team. Only the first two levels are open to you at the start of the game and whilst playing Breezin is optional to unlocking the higher modes it's best for beginners to complete that first just to get used to the challenge. Seriously, the higher modes will have many markers appear close together in the same count of beats, and not hitting 300 points per marker (the 'perfect' of this game; inaccurate hits will net you 100 or 50) will not so much increase your meter as stop it from dropping down really fast. Yet in my opinion, it's these harder modes which make this game so compelling; you will spend ages trying completing the mission and then, once finishing it by the skin of your teeth, you come back to achieve a perfect 'S' rank (calculated by how high your score is at the end).

So what is the purpose of the EBA? This mysterious agency is led by Commander Kahn and these guys go out to help people in dire situations. The missions you do are all over-the-top and unrealistic (bar one, which is actually quite heartwarming), but they add to the game's light-hearted nature; you aren't meant to take the game's plot seriously. In terms of graphics, each mission's storyboard is a 2D cartoon and, again, it works well with the tone here. The only 3D is the world map/mission select and the agents when they're dancing on the bottom screen, which isn't as great as the 2D but is still commendable considering the DS's capabilities.

Anyway no rhythm game can be complete without a suitable soundtrack, and 'Elite Beat Agents' certainly delivers. True it's mostly pop music- and covered up at that- but from various decades ranging from Avril Lavigne's 'Skater Boi' to The Rolling Stone's 'Jumpin Jack Flash', plus most of the covers aren't that bad at all compared to the original. Unfortunately not all the song choices match the mission. For example, 'Skater Boi' is on a mission where a speeding taxi driver has to deliver a pregnant lady to the hospital, so only the tempo and not the lyrics relate to what goes on. However this isn't the case with every song and the developers have made some pretty good choices to match with the mission at hand. Going back to 'Jumpin Jack Flash', this song is the final one in the game and aliens have invaded earth with only the agents to stop them (it happens) - therefore this song perfectly captures the player and crowd's excitement in gaining the agents' support.

In general, this is a brilliant game. The gameplay is engaging and you will get caught up in helping the people in these missions no matter how stupendous the M.O. Although the soundtrack won't be to everyone's taste there's sure to be at least one song and mission you'll love to play over and over long when you've unlocked everything. 'Elite Beat Agents' can be found for very cheap on eBay or probably second-hand at a store for extremely cheap. Buy this game now: it's great for people of all ages and rhythm-game enthusiasts will get a real challenge out of this.

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Its a fun and affordable game that hasnt changed much during its transition from Japan

Elite beat agents is the western name for the Japanese hit rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. Fortunately the Japanese to western transition went by incredibly smoothly the game still features the crazy over the top storyboards found in each of the songs. The fresh and creative art style that you only see in a Japanese game remains intact.

The only change that this game has made to suit the western audience is the song choices so out go some Japanese synth pop and in comes music by Madonna, Jamariquai and Good Charlotte except that all the songs are infact covers a bit disappointing

This rhythm game works by tapping or dragging your stylus over various symbols on screen in time with the music playing. The game does start off very easy and you will burn through the first couple of levels but then the challenge does kick in and you will find yourself repeating levels or your scrapping through each level with a C or D grade

There are 20 levels for 20 songs which might seem a bit small but remember about the limits of the Nintendo DS. I mentioned before all the songs are covers so some of songs are a bit hit and miss but I guess there is little of everything so each genre has a song representing it in this game.

Storyline wise well each song/ level features someone in need of help and that is explained through a comic style story board which unfortunately you wont notice too much as your are concentrating on hitting the right part of the screen at the right time

For me this is the best rhythm game you can find on the Nintendo DS. Its affordable, replayable and most importantly fun

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great ds music game

''You won't find a stranger and more addictive rhythm game on a handheld system than Elite Beat Agents.''

The game first of all needs loads of hours to experience it fully, otherwise you will find it quite hard. The music that goes with it is pretty smooth, and so makes it a more exciting gameplay. There are in total four levels of difficulty, from very easy to hard core. The best part is the online mode which can get so addictive. You can do free roam with other characters and go on missions together. Sometimes even on the easy mode the game will be so hard to complete, and since it is based at children, theu may not like it that much at first, but once they get used to it, it will be a piece of cake. A big part of the appeal comes from the presentation and cutscenes that set up each of the game's stages. All these are told through excellent-looking manga-styled sequences that set up each situation with the most extreme imagery possible. People are either incredibly happy or incredibly freaked out at all times. The problems you'll be solving are, of course, not quite what you might expect. You'll be helping babysitters fend off whiny children while they try to ask their jock boyfriends to go steady, 15th-century artists woo would-be models, and auto executives with mild ninjitsu skills take back stolen car designs from a rival company. The scenes are excellently drawn, and it's hard not to laugh at the ridiculousness of what's going on. The graphics are pretty good, they reminded me of some ps2 graphics, and since it was a DS game, it is definitely 5 stars for the graphics. You basically need to find your own way around each mission, either beating other agents, or go hunting for lost elite gear equipment, which in return gets you loads of rewards. The game is a challenging one, its no easy one for beginners, so this will definitely make it a addictive one. Apart from unlocking multiple difficulty modes, you'll also unlock a few bonus stages as you play through the single-player mode. There are 19 stages in all, and it'll likely take you at least a couple of hours with each difficulty level to complete them. Once you're done with single-player, there's a multiplayer mode for both competitive and co-op play for up to four players. Co-op splits songs up amongst two teams of agents, with each taking about half of the beats. In competitive mode, the two teams compete by playing all the same beats and trying to fill their "elite-o-meter" higher than the other team. The game has both multicart and download play, though the download play offers only a limited number of songs. The multiplayer works pretty well, though it also seemed a bit laggy in spots. Download play matches also tend to take an exceedingly long time to load up. Online play is quick and easy to start up, but takes time on the connection from your wireless router. The music goes into rymth, when you hear the sound you quickly need to tap on with the music, and see if you can make a long flow without doing a mistake, and trust me that is hard.

Recommended game. Top marks.

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Give it a go, but don't buy it for your kids unless they have impeccable rhythm

I bought this game second hand for a grand total of £2.99 (I know, I'm such a big spender), so I didn't really have high expectations for it. But Elite Beat Agents turned out to be surprisingly good, and surprisingly addictive.

Gameplay - You tap the touch screen or drag the stylus across it, in rhythm to the song that is being played. I played the first song of the game, and found it extremely easy and wondered if I would get through the whole game in an hour or so. But oh my, was I wrong. It gets a lot harder as you go through the stages. I like to think that I've got a good sense of rhythm (I play drums) but this game really tested me, and I often found myself failing and restarting and failing and restarting and failing and restarting... a song many times before I managed to actually pass it (with a grade of a C or a D, at that!). And I was only playing on medium difficulty!

Songs - there are less than 20 songs in total, and they are all cover versions (though I didn't even notice until the credits at the end showed this). I was a bit disappointed that there weren't more songs, but I suppose you can't get a whole load of stuff onto a DS cartridge before it's full. The songs vary from Good Charlotte to Madonna, so there's a good range of stuff - something for everyone.

You get short comic scenes to give you a bit of story on who you're saving (with the power of music!). You're not exactly going to get sucked into the storylines or anything, but they are quite funny at times.

I would recommend getting this game, but not for your kids - I think it's just too hard, so don't think it would be a cheap alternative to Guitar Hero or anything like that. But by all means, a teenager or adult will get some good fun out of playing this, and occasionally a lot of frustration too! :P

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A bundle of sheer, unadulterated, FUN.

Ah, Elite Beat Agents (or EBA for short). This, along with Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright, is one of my all-time favourite DS games. Scratch that, one of my all-time favourite games, full stop. The basic premise is simple, but great - the EBA are a secret government agency devoted to helping people in their hour of need. By singing and dancing to inspire them.

Each mission is introduced in a comic book format, ranging from babysitting some bothersome kids or driving to the hospital with a pregnant woman to getting back from a desert island or quite literally saving the world. These sequences finish with Commander Khan saying "Agents are..." and slamming his desk, pointing, with a loud, "GO!". Most missions are very tongue-in-cheek, with a single notable exception. As you complete the easier missions, harder and more important ones will crop up. The different difficulties offer a nice progression, from Breezin' for beginners trying to get the hang of the game and Cruisin' for folk who know roughly what they're doing, to Sweatin' for those who've got a handle on the game and are ready to face some complex beatmaps and Hard ROCK! for masters of fast tapping on smaller sized icons.

The graphics are wonderfully done, but the sound is the real treat. The game uses cover versions of popular songs, ranging from Sum-41 to Chicago 17 to Cher to Queen, and fits them to the mission. The gameplay itself is outrageously simple - tap the icons at the right time. Very easy to learn, but extremely hard to master. The hardest song is arguable Canned Heat on Sweatin' difficulty, which whilst not meant to be the hardest does switch from melody to rhythm at times, this song having so many changes itself that it's almost impossible to conquer.

A heartily recommended game, with a fun little multiplayer mode to add even more replay value. But the game itself provides ample for sheer levels of fun.

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Good, but perhaps only buy secondhand

This is one of my favourite DS games and it's good for those who are first starting out to play Nintendo DS. It's a good practice game on how the touch screen works, and although the moves are simple, still provides a lot of fun. The range of songs are pretty good, my favourite being Avril Lavigne. Some beat games make up their own songs, but the fact these are well known pop songs makes it that much more satisfactory. If there was any downside to this game, it's that it is over far too quickly. Once you master the moves, you move up the ranks pretty quickly and the game is over. I think this is an ideal game for anyone who wants to improve their hand-eye coordination and for anyone who has been told they don't have a sense of rhythm, you'll soon learn some after playing this! Good game, but perhaps only buy it second hand, considering how quickly you can master it.

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An absolutely amazing game that is a must have for all ages.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I have enjoyed a game as much as Elite Beat Agents. It's incredibly fun, it's challenging, and while there isn't much of a storyline, the stuff that is there is absolutely hilarious. Basically, the play the part of the Elite Beat Agents, who respond to civilians' cries of help by turning up and dancing, which for some reason solves all of the worlds problems. Ludicrous, but fun. It has an amazing soundtrack, with music from David Bowie to Madonna to Destiny's Child, so there is something for everyone. The only downside of this game is the lack of original versions. Each song is covered by a different artist for the game, which does take away some of the appeal, but for the most part, the covers are almost as good, in some cases, better. You begin the game with 2 difficulties, but by working your way through these you unlock an extra 2, both of which are nigh impossible.

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AWSOME BUY IT

Elite Beat Agents is a brilliant rhythm game that will keep you playing for hours on end. Taken from a popular Japanese game involving dancing cheerleaders with superpowers ( don't ask) us westerners got the epic translation of the Elite Beat Agents; a crime fighting trio that solves problems with song and dance. The whole game is brilliant fun. You tap, slide and spin different numbered and coloured counters on the touch screen. The game features loads of well known pop and rock tracks that are generally awesome and fun to play to. Its mind boggling how such a simple concept can lead to hours of fun but it sure does. Little animated comic strips pull the story together. Its a zany, musical fun filled ride and its well worth the cost. I originally got it for around £25 but for £9 its a bargain for an utterly brilliant game . A must buy game !!!!!

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Great addictive and energetic rhythm game which is a must for every music gamer who needs adrenaline

Elite beat agents is an action adventure rhythm game for the portable Nintendo DS gaming system. It is a port from the Japanese version - Osu! Tatake! Oendan! which was introduced first on the Nintendo DS. A year after that, the answer for the other half of the world was "Elite Beat Agents" - with new stories, songs and graphics.

I gotta say this game is very hard to master and very challenging as you go deeper into the levels.

When you start the game, you have to run through the tutorial to learn the basics of it. The tutorial is enjoyable, since i have been playing almost every rhythm game on almost every system, because i am a big, big fan of the genre, i find this and rhythm paradise my favorite titles for the Nintendo DS gaming system.

The energetic game-play and inspiring story cut-scenes for every different song is what makes this game really addictive and enjoyable. Your objective is to help the elite beat agents "fix every mistake in everybodys lives". By that i mean, looking at the pattern on the touch screen, listening to the rhythm and beat of the music, following it and tapping on the numerical circle buttons. In addition you have sliding between the circle buttons and spinning a big "record like" circle around as fast as you can to catch the final beat.

The further you go and complete the levels, you unlock more and more challenges and music. When you get to the last level, the story mixes all the character until now, into one big cut-scene, where aliens come to conquer the earth and forbidding any tune, sound or music on it. People get really miserable without music, and the elite beat agents come for rescue. When you complete this level, hold on to your pants, another one comes on, where the cut scene is even more inspiring. The aliens turn the elite beat agents into stone, and the people are doomed, but they do not give up so easily, and start yelling " E B A.. E B A.. (elite beat agents), with belief and hope, and they come to life.

When you complete this level you destroy the aliens, and everyone lives happily ever after with some tune for each another.

As i finished the game, i though.. This was it, but no.. i was wrong!

As i recall i saw another difficulty level unlocked. I was really surprised, and when i started to play it, i noticed that it unlocks another new song, that was not in the last difficulty level.

After you complete all difficulty levels with the different Elite beat agents, you unlock one more. With Elite beat "gals". This is the most challenging and hard to master level. The circle buttons were shrunk. The game-play becomes faster and it is harder for the player to catch the beat and follow the pattern now. If you finish this difficulty level, you are truly the master.

Overall i recommend this game to every rhythm game player on the Nintendo DS.Great inspiring story cut-scenes on every challenge, great graphics, great contemporary music and three more unlockable difficulty levels. And although the Japanese versions were first to be born, the American version EBA will kick their bottoms every day, every time!

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Rhythmic fun that will frustrate and amuse all at once.

Don't buy this game for kids, I implore you - unless you have kids with fantastic rhythm or who won't get frustrated fast.

Essentially Elite Beat Agents is a rhythm game where you tap circles on the screen to the beat - however it isn't that simple. You need to do they in the right order, for the right amount of time and only when the circle gets small. See what I mean now about not buying this for a regular child?

Whilst you play through a story appears on the top screen, they're very well done but they do distract you from what you're doing. An especially big shame with the girl and the mother story where they are waiting for the father to come home and have been waiting years - win this level and things are okay for them, lose it and the mother decides to stop waiting for him and move homes. This is essentially how all the stories work, you as the agent are there to help them with a problem, and the way to help is for them to dance on the screen whilst you tap the beat. I don't claim to understand that but it is good fun.

There's a good variety of songs on this game and two settings, I have as yet only managed the first setting before being driven insane by the final showdown song. This game has songs for young and old, and even better they haven't been ruined for the game.

This is a good value for money game and is great at training you to use the stylus fast and effectively for other games. It can be tricky and has made me give up several times, but it's worth persevering.

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A real fun game, especially for kids with fun music titles. Great for a quick game or two.

My other half bought me this game after I had read reviews on how fun and different it was for the DS (at the time it was anyway) and well, I agree, it is different! (unless you class the not long released rhythm paradise!)

The title screen is presented in a 3d style, you can scroll around the 'earth' as it were and select people from around the world to help out by smashing your stick on a screen in rhythm with music. What that has to do with saving others, I don't know!

The gameplay itself is rather amusing...In a bad/good way! The cute looking Anime style comics that flash upon your screen can, at times, distract. But most of the times you get a major part of the story flash on top, and then it will give you enough time to get your stylus 'stabby pen' ready and you tap circles in rhythm to the music.

There is a tutorial at the beginning as you can't just tap circles, you have to tap them at certain times, then they add ones where you have to hold your stylus down and drag along so on so forth, it all gets abit confusing after that, but after about 15 mins, you can easily get to grips with it. I did have issues with the timing sometimes being slightly out of sync, but most people would tell me its user error rather than the game haha!

Overall its a fun pick up and smash away game, just don't get too carried away now...ok?

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Really fun and addictive game

Elite beat agents is for anyone who likes rhythm games, it doesn't involve any special equipment like dance mats or plastic guitar accessories, but earphones are advisable (you can use any kind of normal earphones with the DS). There are a selection of songs, and the player uses the stylus to tap numbered circles to the beat of the song that is playing. The songs vary in difficulty, and by completing them, the player unlocks more. Possibly not to everyone's tastes, the songs are a selection of pop covers. A minor niggle is that the poor quality of the DS speakers makes the songs (which are already not high quality) sound fuzzy and tinny. Using earphones helps with this, and also counteracts the embarrassment factor of having "Material Girl" repeatedly blaring out of the DS as you try multiple times to complete the level. Despite this, the game is very fun and well worth buying.

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good game and brilliant gameplay

This game is brilliant and fun to play. Uses a very simple idea of tapping in tune with the song and also some other movents on screen. You command the "eilte beat agents" who help people out with their dance power. The stories themselves are shown in a very canny manner and are funny.

Despite the simple gameplay the game is extremely addictive and you will be playing it for hours, definately suited for people of all ages and I would say that it is one of many fun ds games out there.

The storyline is long enough to play through and also have very good replayability. It may sound simple but it definately not, the game gets challenging, and will definately keep you amused and playing for a long time on your ds. Games like these are the reason you will be happy you have a ds.

Overall I reccomend this game because it's fun and different from a lot of other games out there.

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It depends on you. If you like the genre and you are not easily frustrated, you'll be rewarded!

When I bought this game I had no previous experience with rhythm games and I heard this one was described as a bit eccentric, not for everyone's taste, but if you take the plunge it would be a lot of fun. This was pretty much true. The game is controlled with the stylus and requires you to tap and slide in the correct location at the correct time (usually with the beat!). This starts easy and it gets quickly really hard, sometimes bordering on insane. It can be frustrating but once you learn and are doing it correctly on a hard song, you'll feel exhilarated. The animated backgrounds are the funniest thing in the game and the one that will keep you coming back. They describe the general theme of the game, which is music as a redeeming force. The range of songs is not huge, but each one has different difficulties and ratings that require you to come back to see the better endings, unless of course you get everything right at the first try! It won't last very long, however. And it's definitely not for all tastes!